Congratulations spread by word of mouth this Thursday between the Government and its allies, in a day that had opened with the Minister of the Presidency and Justice, Félix Bolaños, congratulating himself.
The rhetorical toasts continued until the convocation of the Congressional Justice Commission, which ratified the agreement – this time it seems definitive – on the text of the amnesty law.
There, in addition to the congratulations of the parliamentary majority and the fierce criticism of the opposition, the eternal and hidden battle emerged between the two Catalan independence groups, ERC and Junts, who exchanged veiled reproaches and tried, each in their own way, to capitalize on the victory.
After two hours of debate, with some interruptions, the Justice Commission repaired the gap opened on January 30, when Junts backed down and the full Congress rejected the first text of the amnesty law that this same commission had previously approved. .
The agreement reached on Wednesday to continue leaving terrorism crimes out of the pardon measure, although with an invocation of the European directives on the matter and not the Spanish Penal Code, made it possible to restore the consensus between the Government and its nationalist allies to remove forward the law.
Next Thursday it must receive the support of the plenary session and then it will go to the Senate, where the PP is preparing to delay the process as much as possible.
It is expected that in a couple of months it will return to Congress for final approval.
The deputies of the Popular Party, Cuca Gamarra (on the left) and Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo, during the commission, this Thursday.Samuel Sánchez
The commission experienced a “rocambolesque” start, in the description of the socialist Francisco Aranda, after the PP, through Cuca Gamarra, requested the postponement of the call.
Gamarra alleged that the Government and its allies presented them with an “extra-parliamentary” agreement, hatched “outside our borders”, in reference to the amendment agreed upon by the Government parties and the Catalan independentists to delimit the contours of the amnesty for possible crimes. of terrorism.
The opposition demanded time to study it.
The session was interrupted for a few minutes until PSOE and Sumar asserted their majority at the Commission Table and agreed to move forward.
The opposition protested, of course.
And he raised his voice to repeat the usual recriminations, especially in the case of the always energetic Javier Ortega Smith, of Vox, who once again outlined his theory that this law amounts to a coup d'état.
But the session, as usual in Congress, was not particularly tense either.
What did become very evident was how the Catalan independentists did not miss the opportunity to play the underground game among themselves.
Vox deputies, including Javier Ortega Smith (on the left) and Carlos Flores (second from the left), during the commission, this Thursday.Samuel Sánchez
Junts spokesperson, Josep Maria Cervera, stuck out his chest for having forced this latest modification on terrorism crimes.
His party had tried at the time to place them under the umbrella of the amnesty to shield their fled leader, Carles Puigdemont, from the new accusations against him in that regard.
Cervera criticized the “contrary rhetoric and literature” that was unleashed against Junts when it derailed the law on January 30.
There were few doubts about the recipient of his reproaches: “Many did not want to understand it either here or in Catalonia.”
And he added: “We have assumed the cost of our no alone for weeks.”
Immediately, it was the turn of Pilar Vallugera, from ERC, who, with more subtlety, was also sowing reproaches for her intervention.
He began by regretting that the text was approved “a month and a half late”, he recalled that for his group it was already fully acceptable at the end of January, he proclaimed that “no one has to give ERC lessons” and concluded: “We could have saved some trials and some convictions at this time.”
She with a final pinch: “This is not about one person.”
The draft report of the Venice Commission, released last week after the PP requested its opinion, gave various ammunition to both parties.
On the side of the Government and its allies, the speakers highlighted that this advisory body of the Council of Europe has legitimized the amnesty as an instrument for reconciliation and has dismantled the argument that it attacks the division of powers.
The most scathing was Jon Iñarritu, from EH Bildu, who recommended the popular ones: “The strategy has failed, change the argument, they have caught you with the ice cream cart.”
Junts deputy Josep María Cervera Pinart (on the left), with EH Bildu deputy Jon Iñarritu (on the right), during the Justice Commission in Congress, this Thursday.Samuel Sánchez
Gamarra, on the other hand, was left with the European body's criticism of the urgency with which the law has been processed and the political and social division it has caused.
But, without abandoning the total disqualification of the project, he effectively modulated the speech.
Two of the arguments that the PP insisted on—that the amnesty ends the division of powers and democracy itself—were abandoned.
The popular ones have just renewed their always loud arsenal against the Government with the
Koldo case
and corruption in the purchases of masks at the beginning of the pandemic.
Devoted to this new line of attack, Gamarra put Koldo in the middle of her speech, in which the most repeated word was corruption, fully equated with amnesty: “A corrupt law”, the product of a “corrupt transaction” and a “Power inextricably linked to corruption,” the general secretary of the PP said amidst the murmurs of disapproval from the socialists.
As on other occasions, there were many attacks on some judges, accused of acting against the legislative branch, although this time no specific names were heard.
No one surpassed in forcefulness Gerardo Pisarello, from Sumar, who denounced that there are “groups of judges who have compromised their independence and impartiality due to a vindictive obsession.”
Pisarello encompassed these maneuvers and the attitude of the right into a “coup strategy to derail a legitimate Government.”
Rumors of protest then arose in the popular seats, quickly silenced by the PSOE bench, which with its gesture offered tacit support for the complaints of its government partner.
Moment of the vote in the Justice Commission, this Thursday. Samuel Sánchez
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